Repeat Winners, More Controversy at Quincy Raceways

  Temperatures cooled Sunday night at Quincy Raceways, but apparently tempers did not. The night started off in reasonable fashion, except for a southerly breeze which caused a bit of a dust storm in the grandstand area, particularly in the turn one neighborhood, and unfortunately the problem did not entirely go away as the night wore on.
  UMP modified qualifying came first, with Ray Bollinger returning to the speedway for the first time in a while to set quick time. First time visitor Casey Lappin, from Bartonville, Il. blew his engine during his time trial run, paring the modified field down to eleven cars.
  Following heat race action and a 15 minute intermission, it was feature time for the six divisions in action.
  Track officials have been changing up the running order a bit so as to give all classes different track conditions for their features, and on Sunday it was the IMCA stock cars leading things off. Brandon Lambert is a rookie driver in the stock car class, and he took off from row one to lead the first of 18 laps. Beau Taylor has been the hottest of the stock car group, and by the end of lap two, he had come from row two to nose ahead of Lambert, using the high line around the track. He began to open a sizable lead while Brandon Savage worked his way to the runner up position on lap seven following which Michael Larsen looped his #48. Back under green, the pack ran in a top side formation, different from their usual low groove line, and Taylor and Savage began to gain separation from the rest of the field. With the race staying green the rest of the way, Taylor soon began to pull away, and he scored his fifth win in the last seven nights of racing. Savage came home second, followed by Lambert, point leader Jake Powers, and Larsen. Both Taylor and Abe Huls, who have dominated the stock car division have missed nights of racing, making a run at the track title mostly impossible under the IMCA points system.
   Nine UMP Pro Crate late models lined up next for twenty laps of racing action. Vance Wilson took off from the pole position to lead lap one as Tommy Elston came from outside row two to second. Elston took over the lead one lap later. On lap six, Wilson slid high off the banking in turn three, turning over the spot to Denny Woodworth, with the caution flag waving. On the restart, Wilson stalled out between turns one and two, retiring to the pits under the caution with apparent front end damage. Another stoppage came just before the crossed flags to signal the halfway mark, as Melvin Linder spun in what was becoming a treacherous turn two. Woodworth had been using the low line in pursuit of Elston, with third running Sam Halstead working the bottom, and back to racing the pair of veterans swapped lines. As a result, Clint Kirkham slipped around Halstead before "Superman" reclaimed the spot. Once more the yellow came out for Linder on lap 14, and now Halstead used his inside line to briefly move around Woodworth. As those two battled for second, Elston cruised to his second win of the season at QR. Woodworth increased his points lead with the runner up finish ahead of Halstead, Kirkham, and Laine Vanzandt in the #80V, having switched rides with his father, Charles.
  The IMCA sport compacts were next to the grid, eight cars for twelve laps. Alyssa Steele paced the opening circuit from outside row one, but point leader Barry Taft charged from row three to the lead one lap later. The only caution of the race came on the third lap when second running Jeffrey Delonjay slowed on the backstretch and was hit from behind by Dylan Schantz, ending the night for both drivers. As racing resumed, Taft stretched his lead while Steele was also able to put distance over the remainder of the field. Taft cruised to his 30th overall victory of 2018. Darin Weisinger Jr. made a run at Steele late, but settled for third, with Jaden Delonjay and Kimberly Abbott turning in top five finishes.
   Bollinger and point leader Dave Weitholder paced the twenty lap UMP modified field to green, with Weitholder holding a narrow advantage as the duo ran side by side for the first three circuits. Weitholder was in command as the caution came out for a Ben Huff spin on lap six. Shawn Deering came up to battle Bollinger, taking the spot just ahead of a lap eleven caution for Josh Newman. Bollinger reclaimed second  ahead of one more caution for debris at the lap 15 mark. Weitholder was not to be denied, however, scoring I believe his tenth QR feature win of the season. Bollinger saw his last lap charge come up short and settled for second. Kevin Blackburn used a final lap pass to claim third ahead of Deering and birthday boy Michael Vanderiet Jr.
   With the drama from the week before hopefully in the rear view mirror, the 13 IMCA sport mods lined up for 18 laps. Tyler Burton jumped to the lead, but  a pile up as the pack crossed the stripe to complete the first lap resulted in a complete restart, with Adam Niekamp and last weeks winner A J Tournear headed to the trailer. Burton also led the pack for the opening circuits before Austin Howes came from the third row to take second on lap two and the lead on lap three. Burton brought out the caution with a lap four spin in turn two. As racing resumed, a three car battle developed between Howes, point leader Adam Birck, and Tanner Klingele, who had worked his way to third after starting last. Another multi car pile up slowed the action on lap five. Klingele now used the Delaware restart to take second ahead of a lap eleven spin by Justin Bartz. The field was now restarted single file, with Birck retaking second as he found the top groove to his liking. He rode the rim to close in on the leader, taking the top spot on lap 16. But Howes was up to the task as he moved back ahead, holding on to claim his second win of the season. Birck, Klingele, Brandyn Ryan back in his own #99B, and Brandon Symmonds completed the first five. As Howes celebrated in victory lane, he was "greeted" by some folks apparently still upset by his skirmish last week with Austen Becerra. Order was restored after a while, but it has since been announced by track owner/promoter that the sport mod division will be given next week off at the track to hopefully allow a cooling off period. With the IMCA Super Nationals starting next week, this may be a welcome distraction for both drivers and fans. As a side note, both Becerra and Howes apparently received a reprimand from IMCA, with I believe Becerra getting a two week suspension and Howes on probation. Until this point, the night was going smoothly, with the clock still ahead of 9:30 and only the two person cruiser feature to go.
  The Delonjay team was out front of the Foster team, with only two of three cars remaining on the track as I headed to the car.
  The final holiday of the season is now upon us, and there is plenty of racing to be had. Weather permitting, our weekend will begin on Thursday with a visit to Kevin and Tammy Gundakers Tri City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Il. In action will be UMP late models and the American Modified Series, both paying $2,000 to win, along with B mods and UMP Crate late models racing for a $1,000 top prize each. Friday night the MLRA late models will invade the Lee County Speedway for their make up event, joined by 305 sprint cars, IMCA sport mods, and IMCA sport compacts. And if all goes well, I hope to make the trip to Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. on Saturday for more MLRA racing supported by the B modifieds. And then ???
  Thanks for reading.